Hair dressing



' Feb. 25,1941. L NAPoLlTAN 'I 2,232,826.

Hua bussini: j

Filed octf4, 194g 2 sheets-shut 2 .B Y )vlam-0521 Patented Feb. 2s, 1941UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE? 5 Claims.

'I'he invention relates to hair dressing and more particularly to anovel and useful method of dressing hair and to a novel and superiorform of coiffure produced by said method.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in parthereinafter land in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned bypractice With the invention, the same being realized and attained bymeans of the steps and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.The invention consists in the novel steps, methods, procedures,combinations and improvementsA herein shown and described. c

The accompanying drawings, referred to here'- in and constituting a parthereof, illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and together withthe description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Of the drawings: Fig. 1 is a top planview, partially diagrammatic of awomans head illustrating the initial steps in performing the method ofthe invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating a plurality of curls wound inaccordance with the invention; and

Fig. 3 is a front view of a womans head illustrating the completedcoiffure in accordance with the invention.

The inventionis directed to providing a novel and useful method ofwinding or curling and Setting hair on the human 'head to develop andprovide improved coiffures.- By means of the invention it is possibletoset any desired coiffure in hair on the human head with a minimum ofdiiculty and to impart to the nal coiffure the desired configuration andbeauty. By' means of the invention the hair can be caused to fall andliein any desired shape or vwave forms so that every hair will lie asdesired. One of ,the difliculties in setting hair according topresentpractice is that while somey of the hairs conform to .the courseintended by the hair dresser, other hairs entwined therewith tend 'tooppose the desired configuration, thereby causing the coiffure to breakdown and the set of hair to disintegrate into unruly elements.

In the art of forming coiffures, the initial step is to divide the scalpinto la plurality of locks and to wind each lock individually into acircular curl. Usually the winding is facilitated by wetting the curlwith a winding or setting lotion. The circular curls so wound are heldin place against the head by hair pins or other means until the hair hasdried and set in the curled form. Y The hair pins are then removed andthe curled locks combed or brushed out and the hair set in the desiredcoiffure. When anindividual curl is combed out the effect is-to producea wavy ringlet constituting a development of the circular curloriginally formed. Thus these preliminary steps of setting the hair incurls and then 4combling out the set curls into ringlets constitute .thebasegfor the formation of coiffures. The'particular -shape andarrangement of the hair in the coiffure will depend upon the planningofthe original dividing, curling and setting operations, varying 'with theamounts oihair in the. individual curls, the directions and'tightness ofthe individual curls and their relative disposition on the various partsofthe head.

Under presentA practice one of the primary reasons why all the hair doesnot follow the intended setting is that in forming the individual curlsthe cross-Section of the'lock to be curled is not well adapted to theformation of a circular curl. In forming individual locks to be curledit has heretoforebeen the practice to divide the head into squares orrectangles so that each lock of hair to be curled has a square orrectangular cross-section at its base'. In attempting to wind such 'alock into a curl, it inevitably happens that a substantial bunch of thehair comprising the lock tends to opposev or resist the winding andsetting of the lock into the desired individual circular curl. l'

yI have `discovered that this tendency is primarily due to therectangular or square crosssection of 'the lock which causes an undulylarge proportion of' the lock to be placed along' the inner`circumference of the curl and thus 'be forced to turn about arelatively short radius compared to the hairs in the outer or peripheralportion of the curl. Consequently a relatively large 'mass of hair isbulked at the inner or short radius part of the'curled lock where ittends to expand, and oppose or cholke the tight and smooth, evencircular winding of the exterior or peripheral portions of thelock.Furthermore,` this substantial bunch of hair (occupying that partpf .thesquared lock which is wound toward the center of the curl) containshairs coming from a part of the scalp, a relatively tangular sectioncontain a large proportion of hair which naturally resists, opposes anddistorts the circular curling action imparted thereto bythe hairdresser.

In accordance with my invention, I have discovered that the foregoingdisadvantages of the present practice of squaring ofi the hair may beovercome by dividing the head into locks having a substantiallytriangular cross-section at the base; this method produces a lock havinga pyramidal shape as contrasted with the wedgeshaped lock produced bythe square or rectangular base of the prior method. I find that the curlformed from a lock having a triangular base and cross-section followsthe desired circular winding entirely smoothly and correctly throughoutits entire contour. There is no large unruly bunch of hair opposing thecurling action because the number of hairs at the center or short radiusproportion of the curl is relatively small and thus the curl naturallytends to take up a circular form. In practice the curl is formed so thatthe central or short radius portion of the lock is preferably placedalong the hairs growing from an apex of the triangular base, while theouter or peripheral hairs are preferably those growing along the baseand sides of the triangle. This method further has the advantage thatnone of the hairs in the lock being curled are drawn from a relativelyremote portion of the scalp so that there is thus no tendency on thepart of the hairs, especially those at the central part of the curl, topull away Ifrom .the curl or prove unruly in any respect. By soselecting the hairs to form the lock to be curled, all of the componentsof each lock tend to follow and obey the directions imparted to them bythe ngers of the hair dresser and that the result is that the basiccurls are entirely tractable and provide smoothly cooperating unitswhich' function together to make up the desired coiiure.

While I have referred to the basic outline of the locks utilized in myinvention as being triangular, it will be understood 'that the inventionis not strictly limited to that geometric coniiguration. but that anycurl having a tapered nonrectangular cross-section in which the hairsforming the central or short radius portion of the curl cover arelatively smaller area of the scalp than the peripheral hairs, wouldenjoy the but are not restrictive of the invention.

It will be understood that the foregoing general description and thefollowing detailed description as well are exemplary and explanatory butare not restrictive of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the present preferred embodiment of theinvention illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings,Fig. 1 shows how the scalp is sub-divided into locks as the basis forthe curls to be set. As shown, the initial curls are taken along theforehead line preferablyl starting at the center part although this islargely a matter of convenience and the invention is not limited to anyparticular area or locus for the initiation of the dividing action.v Asshown, a lock L is formed from that portion of the hair growing from thetriangular area |-2-3, the base I-2 being along the forehead line andthe apex 3 preferably being along the center line of the scalp so that`the side I--3 is considerably longer than the side i-2,

the triangle preferably being a right triangle. The dividing operationis done with the aid of a comb in the usual manner and then the lock isWound into a circular curl C1 as-shown. The direction of rotation informing the curl is indicated by the arrow (Fig. 1) and it will be notedthat the hairs from the apex 3 ci the triangle form the central orshort-radius portion of the curl while the hairs most distant from thepoint 3 at the apexes i and 2 form the peripheral or long-radiusportions of the curl. In forming the curl or ringlet, the hair may belaid or swept toward one side or the other depending upon the finalconfiguration desired for the coiffure and as shown in Fig. 1 it isdrawn or swept toward the left portion of the scalp. The finished curlC1 is .shown in Fig. 2 with a base portion B1 having an initial sweeptoward the left. When the curl is formed in the shape and locationdesired; it is then fastened or set in place on the head by the means ofone or more hair pins H as shown. Usually a setting or finger-wavinglotion is applied to the hair before the dividing operation, althoughthis is not necessary with all hair or all types of coiiures nor is itan essential feature of the invention.

In continuing the dividing-up of the scalp, the next lock will be formedon the triangle base 2--3-4, constituting the complementary trianglecomprising the other half of the rectangle I-2-3-4, the triangles thushaving the common diagonal side 2 3. For forming the particular coiffuredesired (Fig. 3), the second curl C2 is swept back in a directionessentially parallel to that of curl C1 and is provided with arelatively long base portion B2 so that the curl portion C2 liesdirectly to the rear of the curl C1.

It will be noted that in forming curl C2, the central or short radiushairs come from the rectangular apex l inasmuch as the curl is formedfrom the complementary triangle and the direction of sweep of the curlis the same as in C1. Thus in accordance with the invention any apex ofthe triangular base may be chosen as the central or short-radius apexand it will be obvious that the advantages of the invention are realizedin any case because of the relatively smaller amount of hair toward anyapex.

In laying out the typical coiffure illustrated in Fig. 3,' it isdesirable to form a row of curls from the hair growing along theforehead line and said curls C1, C3 and C5 are thus taken from the threesimilar triangles |-2--3 2-5-6; and 5-1--8. respectively. Toward partsof the head where hair is thinner as at the temples, the bases and locksmay be made progressively smaller, as shown. Each of these curls isswept or laid in substantially parallel relation as shown in Fig. 2thereby forming what is known as a definite "ridge" or wave contour lineindicated by the dotted line Rf-R. The merging of the several curls orlaying them in parallel succession as shown provides this definite ridgeline which is an important factor in the iinal coiffure. The resultantridge corresponding to the line R-R in Fig. 2 is indicated by thesimilar dotted line Ri-Ri in Fig. 3. Similarly the next succeeding ridgeis formed by the sweep and configuration of the next row of curls C2, C4and Ce which are formed as shown from`the complementary group oftriangles having the rear apexes 4, 8 and l0. In similar manner therearward portion of the head is divided up into triangle locks takenfrom a second row of triangles beginning with the triangle 3-4-i I toform the curl C1, while the next rearward row of curls (not shown) wouldbe formed'in a similar manner from the complements of triangle 3-4-IIand similar triangles and so on until the entire head is divided up,curled and set, or as much thereof as may be rev quired for theparticular coiffure under construc- Asu tion.v

In each case it will be noted that the successive ridges of the coiffureare formed along parallel llines defined by the beginning of thecurvature where' the base B swings into the curl portion C. Obviouslydepending upon the type of coiiure desired, the location, depth anddirection of the ridges will be controlled by the varying lengths ofbase and curl portions, the amounts of hair taken to form the severalcurls', the tightness and radii of the curling and other allied factors.In

all cases, however, the Atractability of the curl and the ability toform clearly dened ridges and strong uniform curls which develop intothe desired sinuous waves of perfect uniformity are all functions of thebasic triangular lock outline. As previously explained, these functionsin turn arise from the fact that the triangular lock contains no hairswhich are unruly or intractablefbecause they al1 naturally tend to failinto and remain in the' circular form imparted by the hairdresser.

Other advantages arising from my invention are that the curling andsetting of hair is -rendered much easier and quicker because the hairdresser does not have to contend with hairs which are intractable andwhich under previous methods tend to interfere with and oppose his work.Moreover, coiffures based upon the practice of my invention have atendency to remain in place and retain their form and beauty for a muchlonger time because none of the hairs have any tendency to escape fromthe imparted curvatures.

` Thus the woman whose hair has been set according to my method willfind that her coiiure will maintain its set longer and will not becomesnarled, unkempt or out-of-wave through her own brushing and combingoperations.

While the invention has been explained through 40 application to aparticular form oi coiffure it will be understood that it is not limitedexcept as to the basic triangular lock as hereinbefore de- Iscribed.Because of their, inherent tractability such locks may be guided andlswept or ladri'` in any desired direction on the head and'used as thebasic units for constructing a coiffure of any desired mode andconnguration. y.

4The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specificsteps and procedures described but departures may be made therefromwithin the scope of the accompanying claims withoutdeparting from theprinciples-of the invention and without-sacrificing its Vchiefadvantages. f," l

1. In the art of' setting human hair to form a coiffure the -steps ofdividing the hair at the'vscalp into locks, said lockshavingsubstantially triangu` lar bases, and curling said locks.

2. In the art of setting human hair to form a co ure the steps ofdividing a portion of the sca p into a triangular outline, xforming thehair growing within said triangular outline into a lojck having saidoutline as its base and then forming a curl from said lock. 1

3. In the art of setting human hair to form a coiffure the steps ofdividing ay portion of the scalp into a triangular outline, forming thehair growing within said .triangular outline into a lock having saidoutline as its base and then forming a curl from said lock by winding atleast a portion h the hairs on theshorter radius of curvature are thosegrowing adjacent an apex of said triangular outline. j l

5. In theart of setting human hair to form a coiffure the steps `ofdividing the hair at the scalp l into locks, -said locks havingsubstantiallyy triangular bases, and curling said locks, permitting thecurlslso formed t'o set and thereafter combing them'out to form apredetermined coiiure.

Louis NAPomTAN.

